Sunday, November 17, 2013

oedipus schmoedipus

Back before we had kids, Eric read (and enjoyed) the Book of Jewish Humor. In it, there is a joke where a Jewish mommy takes her son to a psychologist to find out what is wrong with him. The doctor tells her that her son has an Oedipal complex. The mom says, "Oedipus, shmoedipus, as long as he loves his mother!" As a Jewish mommy myself, this is funny because it's true- whatever else happens, as long as my boys still love me, everything is ok.

We might be a little bit in the Oedipal stage- perhaps combined with the anal stage- with Asher and his potty training. We haven't been pushing him, but he shows no interest in going. He loves sweets, and I have told him that if he pees and poops on the potty, he'll get candy- but that isn't motivation enough.

Asher can't seem to articulate to us what the problem might be. At first he said he was scared because the toilet was too deep, but he still won't sit on a little kid potty, either. And he's watched Benjamin use all kinds of potties without any problem.

Tonight I told Benjamin that he was my baby. (As I type this, I realize that it's crazy that I call my almost 4 year old sons "babies," and heaven only knows what psychological damage I am inflicting by doing this.) Asher quickly said, "He's not your baby. He wears underwear." So I think maybe that is our answer- that Asher doesn't want to get out of diapers because he wants to stay my baby. I've told him over and over that he'll always be my baby- as evidenced by the fact that he is STILL my baby after I gave birth to another baby.

Now I have to figure out a way to get him to use the potty while letting him know that he is absolutely still my baby. I think we are taking away his diapers after we're back in our house (hopefully 1 week from today), so we will see what happens. I refuse to have power plays or tears or hysterics or UTIs, I just can't handle that, so I don't know how far I'll go. Wish me luck with my little Oedipus!

About Me

I'm a 33 year-old woman with twin sons, born in March 2010, who were conceived with IVF. In April of 2012 I got a surprise- and now have a beautiful baby girl! In my first pregnancy, I was put on bedrest at 21 weeks for a shortening cervix, and created this blog so I can remember my pregnancy and life with twins... and now with one more!